[ad_1]
This article is over a month old and may contain outdated advice from authorities on coronary heart disease.
Stay up to date on the NRK overview or on the FHI website.
– There is simply pressure on air transport capacity. He realizes the emergency services out there.
That’s what Paul Olav Røsbø, head of the Finnmark Medical Association, says.
Patients who would normally be admitted to their local hospital in Hammerfest must now be transported to other hospitals.
This leads to an increased need for patient transport, regardless of whether they are coronary or not. Also, the distance between the emergency room and the hospital will be greater.
The jet has the capacity to transport three stretchers.
– In Finnmark, and in the districts, people always live with scarce resources and must prioritize the sickest and distribute resources in the best possible way, but it immediately becomes more difficult if there is transport of a covid patient, says Røsbø.
And add:
– The biggest challenge now is that instead of having a relatively short transport to the local hospital, the transport is much longer when patients have to be transported, for example, to Tromsø or Kirkenes, says Røsbø.
Rent jets from Denmark
It was on Tuesday night that Helse Nord decided to hire a jet to increase capacity in air ambulance transport.
– It’s simply because you move Hammerfest tasks to other parts of Finnmark Hospital and intensify collaboration in Helse Nord and then it’s air ambulance the mode of transport, says Helse Nord director Cecilie Daae.
The jet plane leaves Denmark on Wednesday afternoon. It will first stop at UNN in Tromsø to test the crew for covid-19. It will then be stationed in Alta, according to Daae.
– On Monday they had some issues with transporting patients connected to the ER and last night we had some capacity constraints and therefore we see that we need to build capacity, says Health North Director Cecilie Daae.
Health North Director Cecilie Daae confirms that a jet has been chartered in Denmark.
Photo: Bente H Johansen / NRK
The Air Ambulance Service (LAT HF) handles the contract with the jet and Helse Nord takes care of the bill, says Helse Nord.
In addition, Helse Nord is working to staff the daytime aircraft in Alta so they can operate at night.
Daae also points out that Helse Nord has a short-haul chartered flight from Widerøe that is on standby twenty-four hours a day and is intended for corona patients.
– If you add the resources that the main rescue center owns, we think we have improved capacity and accessibility now.
Helse Nord also works to distribute patients to the various hospitals in Finnmark. The University Hospital of North Norway, Nordland Hospital and Helgeland Hospital will also be able to contribute if there is a need to transfer patients.
– Transportation to the hospital can save lives
The distance between Hammerfest and Tromsø is 211 km in a straight line. It takes about 40 minutes by plane. The distance is approximately as long as between Oslo and Trondheim, or between Oslo and Bergen. By car, there are about 520 kilometers between Hammerfest and Tromsø, and it takes more than seven hours to get there.
Patient relocation will be a loner to be solved and the situation at Hammerfest hospital ends up affecting all of Troms and Finnmark.
– When patients can no longer be received at Hammerfest, Kirkenes, which has a much smaller hospital, and the University Hospital in Northern Norway (UNN), which is much further away, are affected, says Røsbø.
Paul Olav Røsbø is the leader of the Finnmark Medical Association. He says there is a lot of pressure on air transport capacity.
Photograph: Hanne Bernhardsen Nordvåg / NRK
– Are there cases where this has had serious consequences for patients?
– I don’t know and, in any case, it’s not something I can go into details, says Røsbø.
– But it can be potentially serious. Transportation to the hospital can save lives in some situations. If the transport is longer or more difficult to get, it will feel quite stressful.
Contract terminated with covid helicopter
In mid-September, the air ambulance announced that an additional covid-19 helicopter was no longer necessary. The contract expired on October 7.
– The infection situation is now clearer than in March and the air ambulance service itself has gained a better capacity to transport corona patients, the air ambulance wrote in a press release.
